Just a name
by jujubeeza
Summary: In a desperate attempt to escape the hospital, Naruto inadvertently stumbles across a room that wasn't quite what he thought it was. It holds more than he ever thought possible. Not incest. Focuses on mother/son relationship.
1. Chapter 1

Greetings to all.

I recently re-read the arc that featured Naruto's mother. Well not feature, but introduced her. Doing some minor research, I found out that she was 'presumed dead.' I thought her death was confirmed. After reading that, a story idea kicked in.

This story features a Naruto with the same personality in the anime/manga. Maybe a bit more deceptively intelligent, but not overly so. Set very early on in the timeline...as of now he is not even a ninja.

I hope the next few minutes are at least mildly entertaining.

**Disclaimer: The author of this fanfiction is not Masashi Kishimoto, and consequently cannot own Naruto. This fanfiction is not written for profit, and has/will not earn any profit in any manner whatsoever. If there is a better and more complete disclaimer than this one, why the hell can't I be the best at anything.**

**Disclaimer applies for all subsequent chapters in this fanfiction.**

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The incessant beeps were driving him mad. He knew he was alive, and didn't need a damn machine beeping every second or so to remind him. Maybe the doctors and nurses were really stupid and they were the ones that needed to be reminded. This train of thought lost its humor quickly, as he didn't want his life in the hands of idiots.

Or maybe the doctors and nurses thought _he_ was the stupid one who needed to be reminded that he was alive, and that he could die if he tried that idiotic stunt again. It's not like he knew the rope would snap when he tried to pain the third Hokage's face. Naruto thought the blame should have gone to the guy who gave him the rope in the first place.

Or, maybe he just needed to get the hell out of here.

Naruto looked at his immediate surroundings. He was used to the view, as he was a regular visitor (patient) of the beautiful hospital, and lately, they've been putting him in the same room. It was awfully nice of the hospital staff to give him the room closest to where the doctors and nurses usually are, so that they can get to him faster if something wrong happens.

Or so he was told. He knew better.

Yes, the hospital staff wanted to be able to get to his room quickly. But not for the sake of saving his life. Oh no; they did it so they can stop him from trying to escape.

The darn doctors really earn their money at the hospital; no one escapes. No one. Under the pretense of 'it's so we know that your body's okay', they hook you up to way too many machines. In the past, it wasn't really a problem. His injuries were far less serious in the past, and they didn't bother hooking him up to machines that made a sound.

_--- Flashback ---_

In the trip to the hospital before they started putting him in his current room, he managed to leave that room and almost made it to the stairs. He pulled off a brilliant henge of his attending doctor and waltzed out without any problems to speak of. Everyone thought he sucked at the henge technique because he never did it successfully in class. No one would have guessed it was him. It was brilliant.

...Until said doctor came out of the bathroom and walked right in front of him.

They forced him back in to the room and threatened to numb his legs temporarily with some chemical so that he couldn't walk if he tried to escape again. While his very angry doctor was reattaching the machines to him again, Naruto made a point to express his annoyance the best way he knew how. By throwing the birth mother of all temper tantrums.

It took the irate doctor over five minutes to perform what would have been a thirty second task with any other patient. Before leaving, the doctor kindly asked Naruto to try to escape again, so that he could legally perform procedures to restrain incorrigible, forever wandering children.

There were a lot of big words in there. The ninja school really didn't emphasize vocab.

In conclusion: Naruto had no idea what the doctor said. How could he?

Not five seconds after the doctor left, Naruto transformed into the nice nurse who gives him dinner and is responsible for him overnight. She is nice because she always gave him an extra milk carton. Should heaven's angels descend to Earth, their visage would be that of this nurse.

Naruto strode out of the room with as much confidence he had the first failed attempt. He noticed that he was getting some puzzled looks from the hospital staff, but dismissed it as trivial. He remembered to hide his whiskers, and his henge was very good, so he figured there was nothing wrong.

He neared the men's bathroom where he first attempt failed. Holding his breath, he sped up ever so slightly to pass it.

As the number of steps past the bathroom increased with every step, Naruto thought his escape was all but assured.

However, higher forces than what Naruto could comprehend hated his guts or something, because he ran into the nurse's best friend of all darn people.

She looked at him confusedly.

"Yumi? Why are you here? Didn't they move you to nights? I remember you getting angry when they did that to you, and especially when they put you in charge of the brat."

Naruto's heart wavered ever so slightly. There were precious few people in his life who cared for him. He thought this nurse Yumi was one of them, or could definitely become one of them. She thought he was a brat? What did she really think of him?

Curiosity overwhelmed Naruto. He had to know.

"The brat...do you mean Naruto? He's not a brat...I think he's a sweet kid. He always gets so happy when I give him an extra carton of milk."

Yumi's friend narrowed her eyes. Something was fishy.

"Sweet kid? You ranted over ten minutes telling me you hated having to work nights, and well over half an hour on not wanting to watch the brat. I'm only calling him 'brat' because that's what you referred to him as. More times than I bothered counting."

As Naruto's wavering heart began to crumble, the nurse saw fit to speed up that process. Doctors and nurses are good at that. Making you feel pain. They think it's okay if it only hurts for a short time.

She quickly glanced around her to check for people listening, and when she was convinced there were none, went on to say, "I know you said you hated the brat, and that you only gave him the milk carton so that Hokage-sama doesn't think you're being negligent. Weren't you happy at how badly you had him fooled?"

Oh..._god._

He needed to get out of there. It almost didn't matter if he got caught now. It didn't even matter if he escaped from the hospital. He just needed to walk away from the spot his feet were rooted to.

Thinking quickly, Naruto came up with a rather good excuse. "Listen, I forgot to do something yesterday night, and I came back to fix it. Don't tell the doctor okay? I don't want to get in trouble because of the...brat, you know?"

Yumi's friend noticeably perked up, and nodded in response. "Okay Yumi. No problem. Hey listen, you want to grab some breakfast tomorrow? It'd be dinner for you, but breakfast for me! I'll even make it my treat. You can forget about the damn brat for a few minutes. I'm sure you'll love that."

_Would she really._ "That sounds great, I'll see you tomorrow at the cafe then."

Naruto got a smile in response. "Okay. It's a date. I'll see you tomorrow." The nurse went to the third floor.

Naruto just stood there stoically for a few seconds. At least it felt that way to him. Minutes, hours, could have passed by. Who knows. After he was done, he composed himself the best he could given the circumstances and quietly walked back to his room.

He dispelled his jutsu, got on his bed, threw the blanket over his entire body, buried his face in his pillow, and began crying his heart out.

He promised himself he wouldn't do this. Never again. But it was so damn _hard._ He wanted someone, anyone, to accept him for who he is, like him, maybe even befriend him. He had tried too many times, because he failed every single time. He knew this pain. He knew it hurt. He knew it hurt a lot. As a result, he had given up trying to get someone to like him.

But Yumi. She was likable. She smiled at him. She talked to him. She listened to him. She made an effort to get to know him, and he slowly warmed up to her efforts, eventually to the point that he was telling her everything about him, his past, his present, his future. Everything. She listened with a smile, and always gave him words of encouragement.

He didn't want to try anymore. Then Yumi came along. She was, in essence, his last try. He put a lot of effort into her, gave everything he had to get her to like him, enjoy being with him, and maybe, just maybe, have her call him a friend.

And like all of his previous attempts, he failed. Iruka-sensei said in class that history always repeats itself.

He should have known better. He does now.

But that doesn't stop the pain.

_--- End Flashback ---_

Steeling himself, Naruto planned this one out. This mission was do-or-die. Mission objective: escape from the hospital.

It would sound funny to everyone except him.

The first obstacle would be the machine beeping each time his heart beats. In a previous stay, right before he tried to escape, he simply peeled the electrode placement off his skin, which sadly made the machine make a constant 'beep' sound indicating he was dead, which brought every doctor and nurse on the entire floor to his room.

Mission result: Massive failure.

He learned from when he transformed into Yumi that if you just turn the machine off, the doctors don't care. Well they might, but not in the time interval he needs to escape.

As to who he was going to transform to, he decided it would be Yumi's friend. He (Naruto) has never met her before, so no one would know it was him in a henge.

He was going to use the stairs on the other side of the hospital, away from the floor's reception area. It'd take more than twice as long to reach the stairs, but the route would have far less doctors and nurses in the way.

Confident in the plan, he began the mission.

He turned off the machine and removed all the wires connected to him.

He went to his room's bathroom and transformed into Yumi's friend. He double-checked his henge in the bathroom mirror, and found it to his liking.

He left the room and made a left, not a right.

He walked carefully down the corridor. There wasn't a doctor or nurse in sight. Everything was going according to plan.

He almost made it to the end of the corridor when he felt a sharp pain on his right hand. A little boy had shot out from one of the rooms, pretending to stab something with...a fork. Naruto winced in pain and checked his hand. The little boy apparently had been running at full speed, as the fork was _stuck_ in his hand. He held his hand out much like a woman would check her engagement ring. The fork was perfectly vertical, rooted fairly deeply into the skin. Sighing, Naruto pulled out the fork, and his hand began bleeding copiously.

The boy began to cry, saying 'I'm sorry' increasingly louder and quicker. The boy's mother came out to see what was wrong, when she noticed the fork impaled in the nurse's hand. The mother gasped, put a hand to her mouth, and said that she was very sorry her boy did that. Naruto, not wanting to make a big deal of the situation, smiled in response, and said it wasn't a problem, but please don't give sharp objects to little children. The mother quickly nodded and took her son back into the room. Naruto could hear the boy being disciplined not too shortly after.

Naruto moved on. However, he had a problem. It wasn't the bleeding--that had already stopped. He had amazing healing abilities that no one else had. He wondered why he had it, but he wasn't complaining. That fall from the Third Hokage's nose would have killed him otherwise.

No, the problem was the blood that had built up in the short time he was bleeding. There was a significant amount of it on his hand, and if he didn't get it cleaned soon, it was going to drip. He couldn't wipe it off his clothes, as the clothes were from his henge. If he wiped the blood on clothing he was wearing from a henge, the blood would go right through the henge. Basically, everyone would know he was using a henge. He didn't want that.

He looked around for a bathroom. He had never been in this area of the hospital before, and could not find one. He was walking very fast now, almost to the point it was noticeable. He had managed to keep his composure, but if he didn't do something soon, the blood was going to get on the floor.

He got to the end of the corridor and looked around. The stairs were too far for him to get to before the blood made things too messy. There were a few other rooms, a window, and _bingo, _a janitor's closet. That would surely have paper towels or something for him to wipe the blood with.

Naruto casually walked over to the janitor's closet and performed a rudimentary escape-class jutsu, a simple one for opening basic civilian locks. Iruka-sensei had praised him for picking up this jutsu very quickly, and would he please stop transforming into a naked blond teenager each time he assigns a henge test.

Naruto chuckled. Iruka-sensei's reactions to the sexy jutsu were priceless.

He turned the doorknob. It didn't give.

Confused, he performed the jutsu again. No luck. He tried a third time. It didn't budge.

Naruto knew he was very good at this jutsu. Iruka-sensei had brought out more complicated locks for the class to open as the went on, and only he and Sasuke could break the hardest lock. Sasuke was better than him at a lot of things, but when it came to opening civilian locks, they were even.

This meant only one other thing. This door's lock wasn't a simple civilian lock.

Which made no sense, because this was a hospital, and what the heck are you going to have in a hospital that needs a ninja lock?

The blood was slowly seeping from the top of his hands on to his fingers. If he didn't wipe it off soon, his henge was ruined.

Naruto looked at the lock again, this time, more closely. He noticed after a few seconds that there was something on the lock. Some symbol. Naruto blinked a few times. Then a light bulb went off in his head when he remembered a particularly boring lecture given by Iruka-sensei where he fell asleep no less than four times. He glanced up at the door in mild shock. This was a _seal._

What the heck was behind a hospital door guarded by a _seal?_

He had no time to ponder that train of thought, as he saw a doctor walking to his current position. The doctor was at the end of the corridor, farther than where the stairs were, but the doctor would definitely know something was wrong if a nurse tried to open a door with a seal on it. Naruto began growing frantic. His only other option was to go back to the room, and there was no way in hell that he was staying in the hospital any longer than he needed to, which is for about eight minutes, six of those minutes to confirm that he was alright. Once again, he had awesome healing abilities.

He looked at the door again. Seal or no seal, this door had to be opened _now._

He grabbed the doorknob and started twisting it with all his might, hoping it would open. He didn't know much about seals because he was so inattentive in the only lecture on seals they had, so there was always the chance the seal would break if he tried hard enough. 'Never give up.' Good words to live by.

But once again, like so many things in his life, he was trying, only to fail. That doctor was going to get here any second, he was going to get caught, they were going to paralyze his legs for a few hours so he'd have to be in the hospital for a few HOURS, and should the worst befall him, he'd have to get dinner from Nurse Yumi, who he really didn't want to see anymore.

Naruto began exerting more force on the doorknob. He was shaking his hand violently, desperate to get it open. In his desperation, he failed to remember to keep the blood on the top of his hand, and a few drops fell on to the floor, the door, the doorknob, and the seal.

The seal began to glow in response.

Naruto stopped immediately, wondering what the heck was going on.

The seal glowed for a few seconds, then began to dim out, but unlike before, it dimmed out until it faded entirely.

Naruto had no idea what just happened. He was very confused, but this wasn't the time to satisfy his curiosity.

He went to try to open the door again, except this time, he heard a 'click.'

The door opened.

Naruto couldn't believe his good luck and quickly went inside, closing the door behind him.

Now inside the janitor's closet, Naruto made some key discoveries.

First of all, and the most obvious observation he made: this room wasn't a janitor's closet. It was another hospital room.

The second observation he made was equally as obvious: the room was very dark.

He dispelled his henge, thinking he didn't need it anymore, as people thought this was a locked room, and looked around. He noticed windows on the other side of the room, but the shades were lowered. He was amazed at how little light there was in the room, considering it was around two in the afternoon. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, he could make out more objects in the room. There was a chair, a sink (with paper towels next to it), a counter with a lamp on it, some more of those darn hospital machines, and next to those, a bed.

Naruto backed up slightly.

There was a person on that bed.

He took a few seconds to compose himself and lower his heart rate. His heart had been on extra-fast mode since he saw that doctor walking towards him. Once his heart slowed down to beat at its normal rate, Naruto began to hear a faint sound. He knew this sound well. It was the stupid 'beep' the machine makes each time your heart beats.

Naruto immediately became sympathetic to the person on the bed. _They make you hear it too huh...gotta be annoying._

First things first, he walked over to the sink, washed his hands, got all the blood off, and dried them using the paper towels. He noticed that his hand had no holes in it. Once again, his incredible healing abilities kicked in. He wouldn't even get a scar. Awesome.

The next thing to do was leave the room and hope that the doctor passed by, get to the stairs, and out of the hospital. Then he could finish that masterpiece on the Third Hokage's face.

However, the damn beeping noise became too much for him to ignore, and he went over to the bed to see who he should be feeling sorry for.

His eyes had adjusted, and he could see very well in the dark, but this darkness was too much even for him. He went over to the counter near the bed, and turned it on. Afterwards, he looked at the person's face.

Naruto half expected it to be some super ugly man that no member of the hospital staff wanted to see the face of. Or someone horribly disfigured. Or someone who looked exactly like Sasuke. Either way, he was not at all prepared for who was sleeping on that bed.

It was a woman.

After getting past that fact, Naruto made some other observations. She had long, _very long_ red hair. She had a golden pin in her hair that held some of her hair to the left side of her face. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. She was beautiful.

Sakura paled in comparison to this woman. His sexy jutsu and this woman's beauty didn't deserve mentioning in the same sentence. There was something about her that just seemed so beautiful to him. She had a beautiful face, no question there, but her beauty transcended just physical beauty. To him anyways.

Naruto then looked at the rest of her body. Most of it was covered by a blanket, but her arms were outside the blanket. Naruto flinched. Her arms were thin, too thin. They were skinny. She had no fat and no muscle on her arms. She reminded him of a baby; if you use too much strength, they break.

On second glance, Naruto noticed her face and neck also were skin and bones. Naruto began to get angry. Why weren't these doctors feeding her right? Even he got dinner everyday from a nurse who hated him, and this woman couldn't be a more hated person in the village than he was, so why wasn't she getting any dinner? He was confused; it made no sense.

His thought went on and on about the injustices done to this woman. All the while, he stared at her. He was transfixed, captivated, call it what you will. He felt he could just simply sit here and look at her all day, and he could remain still enough to do it. She had a calming effect on him that Iruka-sensei would have paid a thousand S-rank mission pays to have.

God, was she beautiful.

Why was she so beautiful?

Why is she in a dark room by herself, with no one giving her food? And why did her door have a seal on it? Naruto was thinking up more and more questions as time went on, and it bothered him. Wanting answers, he looked around in the immediate area. There were the same machines that he was hooked up to, but he didn't know what any of them did, except for the beep making heart machine, so he looked elsewhere. He looked under her bed and found nothing. The top of the counter had nothing.

Growing frustrated, he began walking around the room to find any information about her. He felt an insatiable need to know, an effect Iruka-sensei would have paid 500 S-rank mission pays to have so he could use it on Naruto to focus on history.

The room was pretty barren except for those things he saw when he first entered the room. There was nothing else. No chairs for visitors, no television, no dinner table, no..._nothing._ It was so weird. He didn't understand.

He made his way back to her bed when he noticed something at the foot of the bed. He walked over there to find a folder. The folder was labeled 'Patient Information.'

Naruto facepalmed. He had been to the hospital often enough. He should know where these things are kept by now. He opened the folder, and the first page was a cover page, because all it said was 'Confidential Information: S-CLASS'. Naruto almost laughed. If it was confidential information, they wouldn't leave it in the open like that. Especially if it was a S-Class secret. It was probably some deterrent to make sure people didn't read it for whatever reason.

He flipped to the next page and saw her picture next to her patient history. This picture of her was how he imagined she should look. She had a smile on her face, she was eating dinner everyday, and she looked to be in good physical condition; was she a ninja?

He was considering that idea when he read her name. After that was her birthday, homeland, etc.

He never made it that far.

The folder fell from his hands after reading the final character of her name.

His body tensed like it had never before. Never in his worst moments of feeling fear had adrenaline kicked in like it was right now. A flurry of emotions escaped from his heart, each one competing with the others for dominance.

Naruto could do little more than be completely still. His brain was having trouble absorbing this information. It was just a name. It technically didn't mean anything. Also, there could be many people with the same last name. Who knew how many Uzumakis lived in Konoha?

Naruto felt his lungs beginning to get angry. He realized he wasn't breathing. He commanded himself to breathe, and he let out a deep breath.

After resuming normal breathing, he began to shake uncontrollably. So much had just happened. He was just now beginning to realize what could be.

Naruto willed himself to stop shaking, and when he couldn't do that, stop shaking as much. He managed that, and he shakily bent down and picked up the folder and its contents.

He looked at the patient history page again, wondering if he made a mistake in reading the name. He prayed he didn't.

Sure enough, he did not. He had read the name correctly. _U-zu-ma-ki Ku-shi-na._

_Uzumaki Kushina._

_Uzumaki._

Naruto's brain almost exploded once more.

He looked from the smiling picture in the patient history to the face of the woman in front of him, in a deep sleep, so skinny, and barely breathing. He had to really focus to see her stomach moving up and down to see that she was breathing. He glanced from the picture to her face back and forth, to see if it really was her.

Then he read her name again.

Uzumaki Kushina.

The emotional battle waged in Naruto's heart had produced two victors. A smile broke out from his face, and the winning emotions were of such magnitude that he failed to keep standing. He fell to his knees and not shortly thereafter, tears fell from his eyes. There was no pillow to block the sounds of crying this time. He cried hard and loud, overwhelmed with his discovery.

After Yumi, he vowed to never do this again.

But this woman, with the simple possession of a name, made him feel more, want more, than anything he's ever had in his life.

It was just a name.

No, it was more than that. The name held the two victorious emotions in his heart: happiness and hope.

Happiness, because he might not be alone anymore.

Hope, for a better future than the past he's suffered.

Naruto cried for what seemed to him an eternity, which was only in fact, a few minutes. He was mostly done now, and slowly but surely began to gather himself.

As he made to stand, the door violently opened and slammed into the wall.

Naruto jerked and looked fearfully at the door, subconsciously thinking that someone might be coming to take him from her.

No such thing would happen, as the man in front of the door was the one person who hadn't failed him so far.

Old man Hokage.

Naruto briefly thought the old man would look better if his face had the make up that he painted on the monument. This wasn't the time for that though.

The Third Hokage, Lord Sarutobi Hiruzen, opened the door that had been sealed with a blood seal. Blood seals are simple, very powerful, and there was next to no chance the blood seal would be broken.

The Hokage would later on reminisce that Naruto got himself in the hospital way too often for there to be next to no chance.

However, hindsight is 20/20, and right now, Sarutobi had a most problematic situation in front of him. Uzumaki Naruto had found the room where his mother, Uzumaki Kushina, had been in a coma for the past almost twelve years.

Of course, he was one of less than three people in the world that knew of the relationship between those two.

As Naruto began to speak, the old Hokage realized that the number of people possessing this knowledge was going to go up by one in the not too distant future.

"Hey, old man Hokage...she has the same last name as me. Do you...do you know who she is?"

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A review regarding the content is most appreciated.

I hope this first part was to your reading pleasure. If not, I suppose I'm sorry.


	2. Chapter 2

Salutations.

The story will be continued. The story premise is interesting, and I feel I could find entertainment in writing it.

I did some reasonable research on the nature of comas, their causes, and complications that could occur from giving birth. I feel my reasoning for Kushina being in a comatose state is medically valid. If you are more knowledgeable than I in the medical field (you are if you are in the field, as I am not) and I have made a mistake, please do correct me. I would appreciate it.

I tried too hard to use Japanese in my first story, and I feel it suffered because of it. In this one, I am going to use English as often as I can without having it sound weird. (For example, I'll use 'Lord Hokage' instead of 'Hokage-sama', but I'm not going to translate 'Hokage' into 'Fire Shadow.') I don't think I can avoid it when it comes to other name suffixes but...we'll see.

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Hiruzen wasted no time. He gave a distinct hand signal to his two Anbu, and they sprung to action. The hooded Anbu cast a genjutsu outside that made it seem as if the area was sealed off with a yellow 'Do not pass' police line. He then took out a pebble from his overcoat, threw it on the ground, and transformed it into a 'Wet Paint: Do not walk' Sign.

His partner quickly went over to Naruto and picked him up. Naruto was still in a dazed state of mind and was content letting things happen around him, until the Anbu tried to get the patient information folder from him. Naruto refused to give it up. The Anbu tried again, and Naruto resisted harder. Not wanting to look bad in front of his lord, the Anbu quit playing nice and forcefully pried it from Naruto's hands.

Naruto started nagging and reaching for the folder. Now, Naruto may have been undersized for his age, but he wasn't so little that the Anbu could hold him in place if Naruto wanted to make a fuss about it. The Anbu looked over his shoulder at his partner, who had finished setting up his henges.

They were ready to move.

As the Anbu holding Naruto got ready to move out, Naruto began screaming and lunging violently for the folder. At a complete loss to do (the Anbu manuals didn't cover this shit), the Anbu looked helplessly at his lord, who gave a tired smile in Naruto's direction. The Anbu understood, and gave the folder to Naruto, who immediately took it and hid it under his orange jumpsuit and glared menacingly at the man holding him.

Hiruzen chuckled. His soldier was only worried about keeping the folder safe. Hiruzen knew after that Naruto wouldn't let that folder be seen by anyone. The folder was fine.

Hiruzen and the Anbu carrying Naruto walked out the door. The hooded Anbu waiting outside cast another jutsu on Naruto to make him look like a child patient. He then dispelled his previous genjutsus.

As the Anbu got ready to leave the hospital, Hiruzen stopped them. He made to close the door quickly, but stopped just short enough so that he had a clear view of the face of the woman laying peacefully on the bed. Hiruzen shook off a lifetime of regrets, with a silent vow to do better from here on. He closed the door softly, so as to not disturb her, though he knew in the back of his mind she wouldn't notice.

Hiruzen beckoned the Anbu carrying Naruto. He inwardly chuckled at the disguise his soldier gave Naruto; it was damn near perfect. The child was neither beautiful nor ugly, truly average in every sense of the word. Totally inconspicuous.

As he made to draw a kunai, he saw some dried blood on Naruto's right hand. He wondered why Naruto had blood there, but this was convenient. Forming seals at a speed that awed the two younger Anbu, Hiruzen created a new blood seal on the door, took some of Naruto's dried up blood, and touched it to the seal. The seal resonated, glowed for a few seconds, then went invisible. Once again, the door was near impossible to open.

As Hiruzen and his escorts walked casually out of the hospital, he was greeted by the entire hospital staff, patients and their families walking by, and the janitorial staff. He gave them smiles back, and exchanged pleasantries with all of them.

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Hiruzen and his Anbu plus transformed Naruto walked into Hokage tower. As the receptionist greeted him, Hiruzen asked that 'Nightingale' come up to his office immediately. The secretary nodded and went to her phone. Satisfied, he signaled his Anbu to follow him up to his office.

After climbing too many flights of stairs, they arrived at his office. Hiruzen was a bit winded, but his soldiers' heart rates actually decreased going up the stairs. He cursed their youth, and privately hoped that they would grow old quickly.

Hiruzen looked at the Anbu holding Naruto.

"You can let him down now."

The Anbu did. Naruto worked out the kinks that had developed in his neck. Turning his head left and right, he heard satisfying cracks that felt even better.

Hiruzen smiled as he tapped Naruto once on his forehead, ending the henge.

The smile faded quickly from his face as he looked up at his soldiers. "After I walk into this room and the door closes, put up a sensory barrier. Use a complete one. No one sees, hears, smells, feels, even _tastes_ what is going on. The barrier will be kept up until I give the order to have it dissipated. As you know, the chakra requirements for such a barrier are high. Adding that to the nature of this mission, and I am making this a S-rank mission." He gave a small smile. "It is certainly the easiest S-class mission you will ever be assigned, but it is of no less importance than any mission you have been assigned thus far. Failure is not an option." He took a deep breath, and remembered that life sucked. "Am I clear?"

His Anbu lived up to the name. "Yes, Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen nodded in reply, and began walking to his office. When he got to the door, he realized Naruto wasn't following him. "Naruto. Come with me."

Naruto for his part was having trouble containing his excitement. He had overheard the conversation. He was going to be part of a S-rank mission! Only in his coolest dreams was he doing S-class missions. Beating up 100 enemy ninja by himself using the coolest jutsus ever, and destroying huge monsters by himself and having everyone yell his name.

The Third Hokage's call brought him back to Earth. Okay, so he wasn't _assigned_ the S-rank mission, but no one could argue that he wasn't a part of it. Sasuke would be so jealous! Better yet, maybe Sakura-chan would think he's cooler after this.

With a renewed confidence, Naruto walked to the Hokage's office. He only took two steps before he ran into something soft. He immediately thought he walked into the wall, but he knew that wasn't possible. First of all, the wall wasn't soft. It also wasn't black. It also wasn't curvy. _What the hell..._

Naruto pondered what he ran into. He poked it for good measure. After a few seconds and still having no idea, he looked up to see what the heck it was. To his utter horror, he realized he ran into a woman. She was wearing black pants. To make things worse, he had poked her butt. He instinctively put his arms up to shield his face. Sakura-chan always hit him there if he did anything stupid. He feared the worst, and prayed it wouldn't hurt too much.

The woman turned around to see who had the audacity to sexually harass her, in front of the Hokage no less. She saw two Anbu, but they were too far away, and she would have felt them jump back. She then looked down, and saw Naruto shielding his face.

She was a little confused, but she realized what happened. She _did_ use shunshin to get to the Hokage's office as fast as she could, and a little boy couldn't be expected to dodge her or sense her arrival. She reached out, lowered his arms from his face, and ruffled his hair a few times to let him know it was okay.

The two Anbu stoically watching were privately quite jealous of Naruto at that instant. That was a nice round, firm butt the kid touched, and he wasn't flying towards the moon.

Naruto was surprised. He expected to be pummeled, so being touched affectionately was quite a pleasant alternative.

He gave her a rueful smile and apologized. "Uh, onee-san? I'm uh...sorry about that."

She smiled. She enjoyed having her mask on at times like this. It was far easier to be open with your facial expressions and just hide them from the world than try to master a poker face and strain your face and be unattractive in old age. Or you could go the Kakashi route and just hide your face even without a mask...

She gave him a nod in response and shrugged her shoulder to let him know it was alright. He gave her a bigger smile afterwards, which almost made her laugh. Containing it, and remembering what she was here for, she put her hand on Naruto's back and walked him into the Hokage office.

Hiruzen watched the exchange with an inward smile. That was a good experience for Naruto.

After she and Naruto walked in the office, he gave one last look at his soldiers. His gaze spoke volumes. Each one gave him a slight nod. Hiruzen turned around, walked into his office, and shut the door.

The two Anbu began forming the seals to create a total sensory barrier. Showtime.

* * *

Hiruzen walked to his desk and sat down. Nightingale stood in front of his desk, awaiting orders. Naruto was laying down on top of a sofa near the edge of the room, sleeping without a care in the world.

Hiruzen glanced over at Naruto, then at his Anbu. "How long will he be out?"

"Until I dispel the jutsu or around eight hours from now."

Hiruzen replied by nodding his head. He looked away from her for a few seconds. He glanced at the bookcase, at Naruto, and at the ceiling. Finally, he decided to revive the past.

"Twelve years ago, you were assigned a SS-rank mission of indeterminate length. Restate that mission."

She stood at attention. "Yes. I was to watch over Uzumaki Kushina, wife of the Fourth Hokage, and the mother of Uzumaki Naruto. I was given the task of keeping her relationship with the Fourth and Naruto a secret."

She stopped. Hiruzen waited for her to continue. When she did not, he realized that technically, that was all he asked for. "Elaborate more on the finer aspects of the mission."

She paused. What exactly did he want from her? She supposed she should just take him literally and give a bit more detail on what she had been doing. "Yes. I went to the patient's room once a day to check her status, as is the norm for coma patients. Given the high level of secrecy the mission required, I visited her during the night. I found that two in the morning was the best time to enter her room without being detected. During my nightly visits, I checked her vitals, her brain wave activity, and for any signs that indicated a possibility of her coming out of the coma. For twelve years there has not been a single sign. Her brain wave readings however show that she is not in a vegetative state."

She paused once more to nod in the Third's direction. "Lord Hokage prevented use of the door by sealing it with a blood seal using the blood of the Fourth. I entered the room through her room window. The window was sealed with a high precision chakra frequency seal. Only Lord Hokage and I knew the correct frequency, and only ninja with the highest level of chakra control could create the frequency to the required level of precision."

The past came back to him. He had forgotten that he instructed her in the chakra frequency seal. The mission was ranked higher than S, so by law, there would be no paperwork of it. She had answered many of his questions, and he had pieced together what she said with what he remembered. There was one additional question that needed to be asked.

"Why did you leave her patient information in her room. I will grant that the security was of the highest level. However, as Anbu, I expect nothing but total completeness, and this includes layers of fail-safes. If by some chance the room was infiltrated, an S-rank secret would have been exposed."

She blinked. Her reasoning for that was not the greatest. Crudely summarized, she had taken the lesser of two evils.

"I...sought to limit the number of human interactions with the patient information. By leaving the folder in her room, I ensured that I would be the only person to come in contact with it, given the assumption that the room would not be infiltrated. I had faith in the room's security. I also wanted to limit opportunities to make mistakes. The mission, when assigned, was of an unknown length of time, and the probability that her folder would be seen by outsiders would have increased daily if I carried it with me to and from the patient's room."

Hiruzen sighed. He knew she felt like she was making excuses, but this was not the case. She recognized her limitations as a human being, and with all of her other responsibilities, it would have been impossible for her to not lose the folder even once in a twelve year span. And once was all it would have took to make his life suck far more than it did already.

Her logic was acceptable, and she had been successful in her mission. She had kept the information secret for twelve years. He wasn't going to argue with the results.

"I understand. You did well to recognize your own limitations as a human being. We are human beings first, ninja second. I admit to forgetting that more often than I would like."

Beneath her mask, she smiled. He truly wasn't the kind of man who should be leading a ninja village. He was far too kindhearted. She wouldn't have it any other way.

During her silence, Hiruzen looked at Naruto. The child was sleeping with such a look of peace on his face. He knew the daily struggles Naruto endured, and found it amazing that the child could maintain such optimism and honesty despite it all. Hiruzen knew the optimism was merely a facade that Naruto used to hide his pain.

Hiruzen smiled wistfully. _How nice would it be to grant the child his mother._

He looked from Naruto back to Nightingale. The female ninja prodigy who had such massive potential that even Tsunade couldn't ignore. Tsunade may be on an indeterminate leave from the village, but at least she made sure that her skill set would remain. He had originally planned on bringing Tsunade back to the village using this mission. He sent Jiraiya to find her shortly after the Fourth's death. Jiraiya returned in only a few days. He found her, but he did not bring her back with him. Tsunade had sent a message stating that the Nightingale could handle the mission, and would he please stop trying to guilt-trap her into coming back.

There was no doubting Nightingale's skills. When she wasn't his Anbu, she was the acting head of the hospital and two of its departments.

Confident in her medical knowledge, Hiruzen proceeded to ask her a question. He found himself a bit hesitant to ask it.

"You stated earlier that you had found no signs of the patient coming out of the coma anytime soon. Was that right?" She nodded. "I trust that her patient information didn't include her immediate family members?" His eyes narrowed ever so slightly after asking the question. He trusted his Anbu, and she had shown him no reason to not trust her, but he had trouble believing that Naruto could have been worked up to such a state after reading her patient information if her relationship to him wasn't written down."

Behind her mask, she frowned. She wasn't sure if she should have taken that as an insult. "No, Lord Hokage. The names of her immediate family are not written on her patient information."

He figured as much. He just wanted it to be confirmed. Truth be told he really should just look at the damn sheet of paper. However, over his tenure as Hokage, he had grown a strong dislike of paperwork. Convinced that the information on it wouldn't make much sense to him, he decided to just defer to her superior knowledge in this case. The less paperwork he had to read, the better.

However, her answer didn't answer his question.

"Then what was on it that could have brought such an emotional response from Naruto? I confess, I have not looked at her patient information yet. What information is on it?"

She didn't have to think to answer. She had looked at it everyday for the past twelve years. "Nothing that would answer your question, Lord Hokage. It had her gender, blood type, weight, birthday, land of origin, and her name."

Hiruzen twitched after she finished. _Her name._ Naruto had formed a bond with her through her name. Naruto was the only Uzumaki in the entire village. To find another person who shared his last name would definitely have evoked a strong response, especially considering how lonely the child was.

"Very well. I suppose that question is unanswered for now. I have one more question for you, and you may go." She nodded. "Is there anything we could do to bring her out of the coma? Anything?"

She was confused. This was a question she was not expecting. "No, not to my immediate knowledge. Please understand, Lord Hokage, that we currently know very little about comas. Uzumaki Kushina is our only coma patient, and she has been as much a subject of research as she has been a S-class secret."

The Hokage's gaze narrowed.

She realized her omission. "Under anonymity of course." He relaxed.

She continued. "Even Lady Tsunade did not do much research on the subject. She determined that there was nothing medically that could be done to bring a patient out of a coma. She also learned that a coma patient, while unable to live without intaking nutrients artificially, are still alive, as long as they have brain activity. It is only after brain activity is completely nonexistent that a patient has truly died."

Hiruzen was surprised at how much of that made sense to him. "In other words, because Kushina still has brain activity, she is considered to be alive. However, I'm going by what you said here, she could lose brain activity over time? That's what it seems like to me."

She nodded, a bit pleased that he understood so quickly. "Yes. Her brain can shut down over time, or she could randomly wake up one day, or she could be in a coma until her body dies a natural death."

Hiruzen sighed. This was truly a hopeless situation. There was one light of hope left that he saw, although it was a dim light at that. "You said that there was nothing _medically_ that could be done to wake a coma patient. Is there something that is not medically oriented that can be done?"

She faltered. Damn her precision. "Technically, no. I only added the word 'medically' because of one outlying case."

Hiruzen straightened up. This would interest him. "Let's hear it."

She sighed. She really didn't want to bring this up, as it would give him misplaced hope. "First of all, I want to say I don't believe this works." Hiruzen nodded, and signaled for her to continue. "There was a case a few years back where a construction worker suffered brain trauma from a falling object. He fell into a coma and displayed vitals and brain activity not too different from Uzumaki Kushina's. The two cases are similar in a key factor, which is the origin of the coma. Restricted blood flow to the brain. The construction worker suffered brain trauma from an external object. Uzumaki Kushina suffered a stroke from childbirth complications. In both cases, blood flow was denied to sections of the brain."

Hiruzen's hope increased with every word she said. "What was the difference that allowed him to wake up, and is keeping Kushina in a coma."

"The only noticeable difference is that the construction worker's daughter visited him everyday and spoke to him. She was said to have talked to him everyday for hours at a time, and held his hand the entire duration of her visits. She did this everyday for over three years. He was said to have woken up answering a question she asked him."

Hiruzen fell back into his chair. He had heard a lot of stories in his old life, but never one so incredible. "That...wow. Incredible. The power of love woke him up, don't you think?"

She couldn't help herself. She smiled. She wouldn't have her leader be any other way.

"Maybe, Lord Hokage. I confess that medicine has proven inferior at times to other...rather unorthodox treatments."

He smiled. He knew it was a long shot, but he felt if Naruto did the same, there was no way Kushina was not going to wake up. He had made some difficult decisions in his mind, decisions that could ultimately split the village and result in Naruto's death.

However, he felt it had to be done. He had to try. He had to give Naruto a chance.

"Wake Naruto up, and you are dismissed. Let the two outside know to keep up the barrier."

She bowed and walked over to Naruto. After waking him up, she quickly left the office.

* * *

It took Naruto a minute or two to get his bearings. "Hey Old Man Hokage. Was I sleeping?"

The Hokage chuckled. Naruto was everything he could want from a grandchild. If Konohamaru grew up to be half the person Naruto was, it would make him the proudest grandfather on the continent.

"You just dozed off for a few minutes there, Naruto. The lady who walked in with you caught you before you fell to the ground and set you on the sofa."

Naruto wiped his eyes and looked for her, to not find her there. "Hey? Where'd she go?"

"You just missed her Naruto. She had to run some errands for me."

"Ah okay."

Hiruzen abandoned the chair behind his desk and sat next to Naruto on the sofa. He didn't want to be the Hokage while he was talking to Naruto.

"Naruto..."

Naruto's eyes suddenly focused. Staring intently at Hiruzen, he asked, "Oh yeah! What about the woman in the hospital? Uzumaki, uh...Kushina! Yeah! Who is she? Hey Old Man Hokage, who is she?"

Hiruzen gave Naruto a sad smile and motioned for him to calm down. Naruto did, but he couldn't contain his curiosity. He was having a very difficult time remaining still, if all his fidgeting around was any indication.

"Naruto. I'm about to tell you a big secret. You absolutely cannot tell anyone. If you do, the woman in the hospital will die. This is a very important secret Naruto. I am going to tell you, but you must swear on your life that you will not tell anyone, or even hint to anyone that you know a big secret. Okay?"

Naruto was caught off guard; that was definitely not what he expected to hear. Still, he was touched by the fact that the old man was going to trust him with something this important. "I can do it! I'll keep the secret because that's my nindo, my ninja way. I'm not going to let her die."

Hiruzen hesitated. This was it. This was the point of no return. If he continued on from here and Naruto failed, the results would be catastrophic. This was why he should not be the Hokage. A Hokage's interest should always be the welfare of the village. Telling Naruto who Kushina is is most definitely not in the welfare of the village.

However, Hiruzen was swayed by the child's eyes; so pure, so determined, so sure of himself.

He really needed Tsunade or Jiraiya to succeed him.

"Okay Naruto, this is a promise. This is a promise of a lifetime. I will hold you to it. Okay?" Naruto vehemently nodded.

Hiruzen prayed that he would not regret what he was about to do. There were so many things that could go wrong, so many bad endings that could occur. However, he was an idealist at heart, and all he could see was the happy ending of mother being reunited with son. "Naruto, Uzumaki Kushina...she...she's..." Hiruzen stopped to compose himself. This stuttering was not how he was going to tell Naruto.

Naruto was growing impatient by the nanosecond.

"She's what, she's what?"

Hiruzen did not know a smile formed on his face when he uttered the words that could lead to the destruction of his village. He, however, didn't think of it that way. He chose to think of it as words that could erase the loneliness from a tired child's heart.

"She is your mother, Naruto."

* * *

**AN: **Chapter one was far superior than this chapter. I apologize for this.

Comments and constructive criticism are most welcome.

Edit (5/10/10): I'm back home, and chapter three is planned out. Expect it to be much longer than the first two were.


	3. Chapter 3

The third chapter. It sucks. I'm sorry.

I took a stab at being funny. I don't think I did very well.

I hope you enjoy nonetheless.

* * *

Naruto's lack of a response began to disturb Hiruzen.

The initial response was comforting enough. Naruto looked like the time Jiraiya mistakenly walked into a gay bar. Shocked, confused, and traumatized.

However, even after a few minutes had passed by, Naruto's expression remained the same. The boy was less animated than a corpse.

Having had enough of it, Hiruzen decided to force a response.

"Naruto. Are you all right? Talk to me, Naruto."

Naruto looked away from the floor and looked at Hiruzen's face. Or rather, looked through it. Like he wasn't even aware that he was there. So bothered was Hiruzen that he turned around to see what was behind him.

In that time, Naruto got up, and began walking to the desk. Hiruzen snapped his head back as soon as he heard Naruto moving. He saw Naruto walking shakily toward the desk, for who the heck knows why. He grimaced slightly as he saw each successive step Naruto took become shakier and shakier. It wasn't long until Naruto collapsed to the floor, his legs giving out from under him.

Hiruzen closed his eyes. _He didn't even make it halfway._

When he reopened his eyes, well, he immediately wished he hadn't.

Naruto was looking back at him, with a look of utter disbelief.

"My...what?"

He sighed. All hopes of Naruto bouncing off the walls in joy were dashed.

This was going to suck.

"Your mother, Naruto. The woman who gave birth to you."

Fresh tears leaked out of Naruto's eyes as he puts his hands to his temples and shaking his head.

Hiruzen relaxed. He hated himself for relaxing, but this at least, _finally_, was a reaction. It wasn't the reaction that he wanted, but it was the reaction he expected.

After all, what's a child supposed to do when you revive his dead mother?

"She...she can't be my mom," Naruto managed to blab out during his crying, which was in full blast now. My mom's dead, and that's, that's why I had to, to, to live in the orphanage. Because I was, an orphan. I'm an orphan BECAUSE MY MOM IS DEAD!"

The child's cries intensified. Only through sheer willpower and having lived such a crappy life gave Hiruzen the strength to prevent his own tears. He was going to give Naruto all the time he needed. The beans were spilled now. It didn't matter how long he took to pick them back up.

He allowed himself to get lost in his thoughts. Thoughts of his once blissful retirement, and thoughts of his wife; a woman who succumbed to illness far before her time. He thought about what their love produced; a son, that he loved unconditionally, even if they were currently on bad terms. He remembered what was his greatest day alive: the day his wife forgot about her sickness and smiled without restrain as she held her newborn son. Hiruzen was never more excited and terrified in his life.

Thoughts of Asuma's birth led to the memory of a beaming Namikaze Minato whose mirth was truly contagious when he heard Kushina was pregnant.

He closed his eyes.

_They were such a beautiful couple._

He looked at their child, whose tears were beginning to ebb. He couldn't control the occasional spontaneous sniffle, but he made a determined effort to wipe the tears from his eyes and to control himself.

Hiruzen couldn't control the smile that came out and had to bring a hand to his mouth to cover it up.

That was one of the cuter things he had ever seen in his life.

Believing himself to be composed, Naruto looked up at Hiruzen. Hiruzen was delighted to see a bashful smile on the boy's face.

"Heh, sorry about that. Kinda embarassing, huh."

Hiruzen chuckled, but said nothing.

Naruto responded with a small chuckle of his own. Smiling, he looked away and set his gaze on the ceiling.

"I wish you would've told me sooner, old man."

He looked back at Hiruzen, who was sad to see the smile lose some of its spark.

"I know, Naruto, I know. If it were just up to me, you would have grown up knowing about her. Do you remember how I told you that this was a big secret?" At this, Naruto perked up and nodded importantly. "Well, there are people who would hurt the village if they knew this secret. That's why I couldn't tell you, Naruto."

Naruto felt happy each time the old man told him how important the secret was. The importance of the secret being kept led Naruto to conclude something else.

"My...mom...," Naruto couldn't stop himself from grinning. "My mom. She was a pretty important person, huh?"

Hiruzen laughed. "That she was Naruto, that she was."

Naruto couldn't stop himself. "What about my dad? Was he a pretty important person too?"

Hiruzen blanched. _Talk about the biggest understatement of the past twenty years._ "Yes, I guess so, Naruto," he evasively answered._ He was only my successor, a legitimate one-man army, and the greatest seal master in history._

Naruto nodded. "Seeing how you're not telling me who he is, he has to be important. I guess who he is is a secret too."

Hiruzen was delighted. "How very astute of you Naruto. I will admit, he was quite the ninja." _The second biggest understatement of the past twenty years. I'm on a roll._

Naruto nodded to himself, proud of his parents, whoever they were. Whatever they were.

"Hey old man. I know you can't tell me about my dad, because it's a secret that you haven't told me yet, but you told me about my mom, so..."

Naruto trailed off, and he lowered his gaze to the ground. Hiruzen understood. Putting on a tired smile, he walked over to Naruto and put a hand on each of Naruto's shoulders. Naruto looked up at him.

"Would you like to know what I know about your mother?"

The day was one of many tears for Naruto as he quickly nodded before shedding tears once more.

* * *

"Uzumaki Kushina...where should I begin. Is there anything in particular you'd like to know, Naruto?"

Naruto didn't have to think very long. "Was my mom a ninja?"

Hiruzen laughed merrily. "Was Uzumaki Kushina a ninja...I guess the short answer is 'yes', Naruto. Your mother was a ninja. She was a spunky ninja, I'll tell you that. When she was your age, she beat up the boys everyday and enjoyed every second of it."

Naruto laughed so hard he was wheezing ten seconds later. Hiruzen helped him out by tapping his back a few times.

After catching his breath, Naruto had to get that clarified. "My mom, a _girl, _beat up boys? What the heck old man? Are you lying to me? Girls aren't stronger than boys!"

Hiruzen felt a chill in the air.

_Tens of miles away, in the women-only section of an outdoor hot springs, Jiraiya also felt a chill._

_Walking down a well-worn path, Tsunade looked up at the sun and couldn't figure out why she suddenly felt the urge to reacquaint Jiraiya with her fist._

Completely serious, Hiruzen locked eyes with Naruto.

"Naruto. Listen to me. This is very important." Naruto gulped, and nodded hesitantly. "Someday, this might save your life, okay? Naruto was freaking out—they were talking about his mom. What the heck happened?

"Naruto, women are _stronger_ than men. _Never, _never _**ever**_, think that you are stronger than a woman. At the very least, you will feel pain. A lot of pain. All female ninja are sadists, Naruto. They will aim for your weak spots and not stop until you scream so much you wish you didn't have a voice box. And never say what you just said to a woman with long blond hair with a blue diamond on her forehead. If you do, well, just remember that I warned you." _While she destroys everything you are, were, or ever could have been._

Naruto thought the old man finally went insane. He sympathized. Women? Stronger than men? _Please._ Sure Sakura was strong, but he was stronger than Sasuke, and Sasuke always beat Sakura in the spars. He was sure he could beat Sakura; he just didn't have the heart to.

"Whatever you say old man."

Feeling a great sense of accomplishment, Hiruzen calmed down and resumed his former train of thought.

"Where was I...ah, yes. Kushina was the bane of all the boys of her age. They couldn't resist teasing her about her weight and her hair, and she couldn't resist bruising them each time they did.

Naruto had this picture of an idyllic angel as his mother, and consequently had great trouble thinking of her as someone who beat others up. It was obvious that the old man had completely lost it.

"Uh...huh. So, when is my mom going to wake up? Can I go see her when she does?"

Hiruzen flinched. "You can definitely go see her when she does wake up, but...I'm not sure when that will be." _If ever..._

It was Naruto's turn to flinch. "What do you mean by that...and speaking of which, what's she doing in a hospital anyways?" Naruto stood up. The more he thought, the more he didn't like the status quo.

"Naruto, when you were born, your mother...well...she got hurt."

Naruto was focused this time. He wasn't going to cry.

"Who hurt her."

Hiruzen gulped. That came out wrong. _Way wrong._ _The boy is riding on righteous anger. Tell him it was the process of giving birth that hurt her, and he'll definitely think it was his fault. He's not going to recover from that._

"Naruto...I-"

"WHO **HURT** HER."

Hiruzen instinctively moved back slightly. He didn't want to admit to himself that he just felt the slightest amount of the kyuubi's chakra.

Which of course, would have made a lesser man embarrass himself.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Hiruzen sought to gain control of the situation.

"Naruto, _enough._" Naruto immediately calmed down; he had never seen the old man look like that before. He was scary.

"I'll tell you Naruto, just, give me a minute." Hiruzen was furiously playing for time. How the heck was he supposed to explain this? Heck, he couldn't even think of a plausible lie. He knew nothing a woman's body in pregnancy. Heck, even the fact that she had a stroke is a lie that he told Nightingale to make up.

What to do...

He chanced a glance at Naruto, and saw him rapidly growing impatient. And he really, really didn't want to feel the kyuubi's chakra again. He knew that it was normal for the seal to leak out small bits of the sealed chakra, but even a little bit was enough to revive the living nightmare from twelve years ago.

Completely at a loss, Hiruzen decided to just wing it. God did his life suck so _hard._

_Speaking of god, if you're up there, SAVE ME. PLEASE._

"Old man!"

Hiruzen looked again at Naruto and saw that righteous anger building up again. He was out of time. He wasn't the greatest master of 'winging it,' but he'd give it a shot. He had no other choice.

"Naruto, what happened, was-"

Hiruzen sensed the barrier drop outside and immediately stopped talking. This secret was not going to be left to chance.

"One moment, Naruto. Something happened outside. Let me go check on it-"

Nightingale burst into the room. Hiruzen went to ask what the heck was going on when he noticed that she was completely out of breath. He considered the possibility that she sprinted here straight from the hospital, which was halfway across the village.

It doesn't matter how conditioned your body is. The human body can sprint at maximum speed for no longer than five to eight seconds before exhaustion begins to kick in. _As ninja, our maximum speeds and recovery rate are certainly faster than a civilian, but we are human nonetheless, limited to the limits of the human body._

Naruto looked at the intruder, and was pleasantly surprised.

"Hey! It's the nice lady from before. Do you remember me? My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I don't think I told you my name when I saw you earlier. Sorry about that. What's your name?"

Nightingale by this time got her wind back and couldn't stop a small smile from leaking out. Not that Naruto could have known, of course.

"Hello Naruto-Kun, I go by 'Nightingale.' It's nice to meet you."

Naruto was very happy that she was to him. He hasn't known her for very long, but already he really liked her. "Hi Nightingale, what's your last nam-"

"Lord Hokage, there's been an incident in my mission regarding...her."

Hiruzen closed his eyes. There was only one 'her'. No chance for ambiguity.

Nightingale swiftly took action. "Naruto-Kun, it's very nice to see you again, but I have to talk to Lord Hokage about an important mission, okay? I'll talk to you more after I'm done. Can you please wait outside until I'm done?"

Naruto was disappointed, but not saddened. She wasn't brushing him off; she had a problem with her mission, and she promised to talk to him after she was done.

"Okay Nightingale, I'll wait outside, okay?"

"Thank you Naruto. Please close the door when you get outside."

"Wait, Naruto."

Both Naruto and Nightingale looked at Hiruzen, who had a somber look on his face. Naruto was confused.

Nightingale even more so.

"Lord Hokage, _with all due respect_, I have encountered an emergency in my mission, and would _greatly like to debrief you before I-_"

"Are you talking about my mom?

Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock as Nightingale swiftly turned around to look at Naruto.

"Naruto...you, you know?"

Naruto smiled a smile that no child should know how to make.

"The old man told me today."

Angry out of her mind, Nightingale turned her wrath towards her leader.

"Why. Why did you tell him. There's nothing he can do for her. There's nothing _we_ can do for her. She was dead and buried in his heart. Now he's going to have to bury her again."

Naruto's felt his heart begin to die and Hiruzen began to stir. "Kushina is dead?"

Nightingale flinched. "No, I, _I don't know._ Her brain activity hasn't gone down. On the contrary, it's gone up. I have no idea why it's going up, but it has. What makes no sense is that her body's showing signs of shutting down as brain activity is increasing. She almost can't breathe on her own now, and I'm feeling..._it's_ chakra from her. I've shut down the entire floor and sealed her room, but it doesn't solve anything and I don't know what's wrong, and-"

"Shizune."

Nightingale stopped. Naruto looked around. Who the heck is 'Shizune'?

_And what was that about his mom..._

"Shizune. Calm down, my child. What happened is no fault of yours. I'm sure of it. I don't blame you, and I'm sure little Naruto here doesn't either."

His gaze hardened. "However, remember that you are the nightingale. The leader of my village's medical corps. My faith in you is absolute, and I am very proud of everything you've accomplished thus far."

Nightingale visibly relaxed, and Hiruzen's gaze softened. "Though I admit, it was a delight to see you so flustered. You are human. Humans are not infallible. Take care to remember that."

She gratefully smiled behind her mask. Yes. She would not trade her leader for any other.

Hiruzen looked at both Naruto and Nightingale, two of the finest children his village had ever produced. He hoped and knew many more would follow in their footsteps.

"Well. An emergency has occurred. Naruto. Shall we go see for ourselves what is ailing your mother?"

Naruto was frightened at the prospect of his mother falling ill. She had just entered his life, and he was nowhere near ready to say good-bye to her yet.

"Can you heal her, old man?"

Hiruzen put on his best genuine fake smile and reassured Naruto as truthfully as he could.

"We'll see when we get there. Nightingale, we'll meet you there in five minutes."

Nightingale bowed. "Understood, Lord Hokage." A spontaneous gust of air formed, and in the same second, she was gone.

Hiruzen stretched out his arms and legs, taking care not to throw out his back.

"Uh, old man, what are you doing?"

Feeling as loose as his really old body would allow, Hiruzen picked Naruto up and put him on his back.

"Hang on tight Naruto, we're going to the hospital."

"You can't get to the hospital in five minutes! That's insane!"

Hiruzen laughed. Distracting Naruto from his mother was proving easier than he thought.

"Naruto, I'm giving her a head-start. We're going to get there in oh, three minutes or so. After you accomplish the rank of chunin, you will be taught the shunshin no jutsu, which allows you to cover great distances in a very short time. I, being the hokage, am very good at the shunshin. We will get there with time to spare."

Naruto clearly doubted it, and this was just adding fuel to the 'The old man has lost it' fire. "Uh huh, if you say so. Hey old man, I just have one question."

Hiruzen was ready to shunshin. He hoped to make it at least one-fourth of the way there in a single jump. He'd have to get the window replaced, but he knew that Kakashi was bored and had been asking for something to do. There just weren't enough targets to be assassinated. "Make it quick, Naruto."

"Who's Shizune?"

Hiruzen plus Naruto body flickered into the wall.

* * *

"You're a stupid old man, you know that?" Naruto grudgingly said as he rubbed his forehead to try to alleviate the rather large bump that had formed.

"I know I am stupid Naruto, more stupid than you will ever realize..." Hiruzen said as he led the way to Kushina's room. Grinning triumphantly, Naruto was about to yell that he was smarter than the hokage when the old man had the _audacity_ to declare...

"But of course, you are less intelligent than I am."

_WHAT!_ "I am not stupider than you are!" replied a haughty Naruto.

"Oh but you are. And stop saying 'stupider'. It is not a word."

In one ear and out the other. "Am not!"

"Yes you are."

"_No, _I'm not."

"You are. I assure you of this."

"You're stupider than Sasuke!" _Sigh..._

"I'm dumber than Sasuke?"

Naruto grinned and nodded with a vengeance. "Yeah, you're stupider than Sasuke. Ha! Beat that!"

Hiruzen pondered the funniest way to reply to this.

"Well yes, I very well suppose that I could be less gifted than Sasuke..." Naruto began laughing up a storm, only to hear...

"But you are still less intelligent than I am."

Naruto's face was one of absolute horror. "But that means I'm stupider than Sasuke!"

Hiruzen looked down at Naruto, impressed. "So you learned the transitive property of equality at the academy? I'm very pleased, Naruto. I'll have to give Iruka a raise. It would seem that he did manage to teach you something." _Though he failed miserably in the language aspect..._

Naruto tried to look important and intelligent, and failed miserably at both. "Yeah, you better believe it! I learned because I'm smart! I'm not stupid!"

"Yes, Naruto, that seems to be the case. You are not stupid." Naruto vehemently nodded. No truer words were ever spoken in history.

"...but you are still less intelligent than I am."

Naruto blanched. "Hhhhuuuuhhhh? You just said I wasn't stupid!"

"A person does not have to be stupid to be less intelligent than someone else. Think about that Naruto."

The two walked in silence for another minute. Naruto recoiled a little when he passed by his old room.

"Well, here we are," Hiruzen grimaced. He could feel the chakra from outside the room. Shizune said she sealed off the room from sensor ninja. He was sure she did a good job.

That was why he was so bothered.

"Naruto, draw some blood on your thumb and touch your thumb to the doorknob," Hiruzen instructed.

Naruto bit down on his thumb until he tasted blood, and touched it to the doorknob. He saw the seal disappear again, and the two of them went in.

Upon entering, Hiruzen was blasted by the kyuubi's chakra. It was immense, overwhelming, and all-consuming.

Naruto was surprised to see the light on, and furthermore, to see Nightingale writing stuff down while looking at the machines hooked up to his mom. He noticed that the machines sounded differently from before, and that Nightingale was wobbling. Was she okay? Was what his mom had contagious?

"Nightingale, are you alright?" Hiruzen asked. He did not like how unsteady she was.

Nightingale was panting, heavily affected by the demonic feel of the chakra, but she managed to reply. "Lord Hokage, I am fine. I am almost done getting my data."

Hiruzen shook his head. He was getting her out of this room. Now.

"Nightingale. I am ordering you to rest for at least half an hour outside, effective immediately."

Nightingale nodded, thought she did not move towards the door.

"I would like nothing more, Lord Hokage. I am almost done; I will not be longer than two more minutes. The thing is, I could tolerate its chakra before, but it got progressively worse as time went on. Kushina's vitals are getting worse as well. I almost think the increase in brain activity is just the pain that she's feeling, but I-"

She fell to her knees, breathing heavily. Hiruzen noticed that she was sweating profusely.

He wasn't giving her two seconds.

Naruto also saw her fall, and also began to worry for her safety. "Nightingale, are you okay? Do you want me to help you?" He began walking over to her.

Nightingale got worse quickly. As her consciousness threatened to leave her, she realized what was going on.

The closer Naruto got to his mom, the worse the chakra leaked out from Kushina.

Nightingale screamed, "NARUTO! STAY BACK! LEAVE THE ROOM NOW!"

Naruto flinched, hurt by her words. Hiruzen could only stand and watch. _What is going on..._

Naruto greatly feared losing his mother. He wasn't losing Nightingale either.

"I'm sorry Nightingale, but you don't look like you're feeling very good. I'm getting you out of this room." He began walking over to her with the intent to pick her up and carry her out.

Nightingale screamed each time Naruto took a step. Her screams got worse the close he got to her, convincing him that she needed to get out. When he was less than a meter from her, he felt a tinge on his stomach.

Then all hell broke loose.

Naruto's scream easily beat out Nightingale's and red chakra burst out of his body and began to envelop him. Nightingale felt her pain fade away so quickly that she might have just imagined it. Hiruzen looked at what was going on in utter confusion, and consequently unable to do anything about it. All he could do was watch. He saw Naruto become surrounded by red chakra that came out of his body.

It was incredible. He could _see_ the kyuubi's chakra, but he couldn't feel it. The feeling of kyuubi's chakra from earlier was completely gone. Even Nightingale was getting back up.

As Hiruzen walked closer to Naruto to investigate, a nagging voice was speaking in the back of his head.

_Don't deny it. You know you saw red chakra come out of Kushina's stomach._

_

* * *

_

Where he was, he had no idea.

The sewers?

It was dark, with smelly and ugly looking water leaking out from the walls.

Naruto looked around and wondered how the heck he got here.

He was surrounded by walls on three sides. The final side was a different story.

Massive vertical bars with a gate in the middle. If Naruto didn't know better, he would have thought that that was a jail cell. A cage. Something designed to hold something back.

He let that train of thought die. He didn't want to know what was so big it needed to be held in check by a jail cell that big.

Of course, as soon as he thought this, whatever it was being the jail cell was talking to him.

"**Hello Naruto. Why don't you come closer?"**

Naruto was frightened out of his mind. That voice was _loud_. And it felt like the source was tens of feet above his head.

He knew one thing. He wasn't getting anywhere near that.

As he walked away, a giant mass of red..._something_ came out from the cell and grabbed him. Naruto struggled for all he was worth, but to no avail.

"**I guess you didn't need to get closer. How perfect. I can escape. Escape at last."**

Before he knew it, Naruto was looking face to face with the most hideous creature he had ever saw. It looked...evil. Every tooth was bigger than he was, and every tooth looked sharp enough to cut through metal. The eyes were slitted, with yellow pupils that looked mockingly at him.

And it had nine tails. One of which was holding him in place.

Naruto furiously struggled, to which the monster roared in delight.

"**Struggle as much as you can...despair tastes delicious. I am going to savor you."**

Naruto was slowly moving towards this monster's mouth. This was it. He was going to die. He was going to be eaten. His struggles intensified, and his frustrations mounted. Try as he might, he wasn't budging.

Naruto was in full-blown panic mode, and screamed and struggled as much as he could, aided with as much adrenaline as his body would allow.

Didn't change anything, except make the monster laugh even harder.

Naruto never stopped struggling. He didn't know how to give up, and he wasn't going to learn it before he died. His determination grew as the seconds left on his life ticked away.

He was inches from the front teeth when it really kicked in that he could be eaten. Naruto's struggles hit their maximum, and the monster was delighted.

"**Yes...build your despair. Let me cook you. I want you to be delicious after all."**

The monster just held him in front of his mouth, _cooking_ him. Naruto never stopped struggling, but he was making no headway.

Just as Naruto was about to give in, the monster made to bite down on Naruto. Naruto closed his eyes and prayed it wouldn't hurt.

After a few seconds passed, he was pleasantly surprised to find out that it didn't. Which obviously made no sense.

Chancing a glance, he looked up to see the monster's mouth wrapped tightly shut by several chains. His eyes followed the chains down to their source.

The source of the chains was the last person he ever expected.

A beautiful, smiling, conscious Uzumaki Kushina.

* * *

This little story will be wrapped up in the next chapter. I'll go ahead and say that I have no desire to make a happy ending.  
Then I'll spring one on you! Maybe. Probably not.

Note: The absurdly stupid conversation regarding stupidity was edited after a reviewer stated correctly that 'stupider' is not a word. I went ahead and fixed it. I had Naruto keep using the 'word' because it's always funny to watch someone profess how smart they are while acting like an idiot.

Chapter started off very weak. Got better as it went on, I feel.  
Comments and Criticism welcome.

No promises on when the final chapter will be posted. I've broken too many of those.


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